


Ten-Forty-Five

by ami_ven



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Community: mcsheplets, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-12
Updated: 2014-03-12
Packaged: 2018-01-15 11:16:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 751
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1302880
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ami_ven/pseuds/ami_ven
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They had a date that night.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ten-Forty-Five

**Author's Note:**

> written for LJ community "mcsheplets" prompt #156 "date"

They had a date that night. Nothing elaborate, just plans to meet for dinner in the mess hall, like they often did when not having a mission meant they hadn’t seen each other all day.

But some time that afternoon, Rodney had had a brilliant idea about a project he’d previously had on the back-burner, and he’d run with it. Dimly, he heard the rest of his staff filter out, one by one. Zelenka was the last out, muttering about ‘time’, which was entirely irrelevant, since Rodney’s project involved _gravity_.

Excitedly, he scrawled equations across three white boards, started four simulations running, then filled two more. Rodney was still buzzing with ratios and coefficients as he turned to grab another dry erase marker— and stopped dead.

John was sitting at Rodney’s desk, feet up on one corner and two covered trays beside him. He’d changed out of his uniform, into faded blue jeans and a dark green button-down that Rodney had once mentioned he’d really liked.

“Sheppard!” he cried, dropping the dry erase marker with a clatter.

“Hey, Rodney,” said John, smiling. “When you didn’t show, I figured I had better come find you.”

“When I didn’t…?” Rodney repeated. Frowning, he glanced at the window at the far end of the lab, where a sliver of moonlight slashed across the floor. When had it gotten dark?

Probably about the same time he should have been meeting John for dinner.

“Oh, god,” Rodney muttered, because he’d known that this was going to happen. He’d just known that even with John, who understood him better than anyone ever had, that it was still only a matter of time before he did something thoughtless like this. “I missed dinner, didn’t I? What time is it?”

Rodney had taken his watch off earlier, for better reach inside a console he’d been fixing, and he’d forgotten to put it back on. He spotted it on the desk, but John snatched it up first.

“What time do you think it is?” he asked.

Rodney hesitated. They were supposed to have met at six and it had been long enough that John had come looking for him, but John was still smiling, so it couldn’t have been that late… “Eight-thirty?” he guessed.

“Ten-forty-five,” said John.

“What? But… why didn’t you call me, or just start dinner without me—?”

“Because I wanted to have dinner with you,” said John, simply. “It doesn’t matter where we are, or what time it is. So, if you didn’t come to dinner, I’d just bring dinner to you. And then…”

He trailed off, turning faintly pink at the tips of his ears. “You kind of ignored me when I came in, and I figured I’d take the opportunity to watch you do your stuff. It’s, um, it’s kind of hot.”

“Being stood up and ignored is kind of hot?” Rodney asked, incredulous.

John rolled his eyes. “You didn’t stand me up, McKay. You just got so caught up in some new theory that you probably don’t know what day it is.”

“It’s still today,” said Rodney, more sharply than he’d intended. “I didn’t mess up that badly.”

“Hey,” said John. He slid his feet off the desk and came around it, resting both hands on Rodney’s shoulders. “You didn’t mess up, okay? I know you didn’t mean to lose track of time. Besides, this isn’t even the first time you’ve done that on me.”

“I know,” said Rodney, miserably. “But we weren’t dating, then.”

“I came and found you all those other times, didn’t I?” John countered. “What makes you think I’d have _less_ patience with you now that we’re having sex on a regular basis?”

“Oh, well, when you put it like that…”

John leaned in to kiss him, gently. “Come and eat something, and I’ll let you get back to work.”

Rodney kissed him back, harder. “The next time I’m at the SGC,” he said, “I’m going to borrow the time-ship to go back and thank whichever Ancient bimbo fooled around with your family tree and got you sent to Atlantis with me.”

John laughed, loud and genuine. He rested his head on Rodney’s shoulder, both arms tight around his waist. “God, Rodney,” he laughed, voice muffled by Rodney’s uniform jacket. “Never, ever change.”

“I won’t,” Rodney promised, holding on tight. After a long moment, he said, “John?”

“Hmm?”

“Let’s take the food back to our quarters.”

John pulled back just far enough to kiss him again. “Great idea.”

THE END


End file.
